Athelstone

Cheeky leap into an attempt of an opener for ‘Snap is not a children’s game’ 

Vic Duncan. Did Lucy but know it, the first of three Duncan men she’d sleep with before she died, possibly dangerous, but an especially satisfying addition to her habitual  maintenance of a quartet of alphabetically consecutively-named lovers.

It began in the final yea…[Read more]

Congratulations Terrie – a tale that got richer with every re-reading, as did those of Alex at Ath. And thank you Pinkbelt for the challenge.

First of all, thanks for allowing me to come back into the fold and do this. I’d forgotten how much fun these are, and I can’t believe just how much people can express in so few words. I loved all of them in different ways.

Sandra, I found your piece thoughtful and intriguing. I love the part of writing when you revisit a character to find out a…[Read more]

Retrieving memories

When on the Word Cloud, in 2014, Alan P proposed the challenge ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore’, I was in need of an explanation as to why Luke Darbyshere ( DI and main character in my ‘Love triangles with murder series) regularly sabotaged relationships at the point when they looked like becoming meaningful. His upbring…[Read more]

Have to confess I avoid much of that for Steve, by ordering and collecting the books I want and handing them over for him to ‘hide’ (recognising he is doubly challenged by my having a birthday five days before Christmas.)

@ Terrie – I second Ath’s recommendation for hard drives: the one my thoughtful elder son bought for me, having listened to my moans, scrambled its contents when my laptop blew several gaskets.

@Athelstone – “gift lists for next year” not illegal, they masquerade as Amazon wish lists, ready to be re-written for handing to my local bookshop.

The Emporium.

I’d been watching the place for a while and now I was ready.

The tiny shop by the empty mill was cobwebbed in layers of age and the light inside flickered with a hospitable glow. The antique-looking sign over the bottle-glass door announced it was an “Emporium Of Returned Things”.

 It was out of the way and the perfect place…[Read more]

Thanks, Athers, for a competition theme that gave me much head-scratching before I found a direction, and for chuckling, since I didn’t intend to sound self-pitying. Also I thoroughly applaud your giving Pinkbelt the opportunity to challenge us in February.

An Old Face

“What became of Pinkbelt?”

“Oh God, do you remember him? Lurking in the dark places projecting his murky thoughts into the world. Wasn’t he the guy who wrote grisly scenes with hudreds of f-bombs?”

“Yes, that’s the guy. I heard he got signed and the fame we to his head.”

“No, my mate said he got a few rejections and gave…[Read more]